We had a fun little Valentine's Day. At my lunch break from being in clinic I got some heart shaped Donuts and brought them home to surprise Jake & Braelyn. (We saved one for Dal for when he got home from school) Dal had a fun Valentine's party at school where he got lots of yummy treats and such. When I got home from clinic Jake made us a delicious v-day dinner (it was yummy pork loin, some amazing flavorful mashed potatoes, salad and homemade rolls. I wish I took a picture of it because it looked amazing too)
After dinner we had a yummy oreo pie dessert that Jake had made in this cute heart shaped dish.
This is what remained when I finally got around to taking a picture of it. It sure was yummy.
Jake surprised me with a super cute BYU shirt...
...complete with a hoodie :) I was so surprised and I love it. It is so soft and comfy
He also gave me this cute and funny little card
I am so grateful for my amazing husband. He is always so sweet and thoughtful. I love how excited he gets to surprise me with things or get me surprise presents. He can hardly keep from telling me about it or from telling me what's inside a present that he got for me. He is just so cute. I sure do love him!
Braelyn got a little bike for Christmas and when the weather permits she loves riding it. She is getting really good at it and she always wants to go faster and faster
On December 29th Dalyn turned 6! I can't believe he is 6! We got to celebrate his birthday in Montana with lots of family so that was really fun. We went out to eat at Papa T's, where the kids enjoyed riding a little carousel ride, and then we went back to my parents and had cake, opened presents and played with family.
Here is his cute excited face when it was time to open presents
Thanks to Jamie (and the kids:) we had a delicious ice cream cake
Silly little cute cousins!
Dal is such a great kid and we are so grateful to have him in our family. He can be so sweet and thoughtful and so crazy, excited and fun too. He is doing so great in Kindergarten and his teacher just loves him . It was funny because when we got home and he was about to start school again after Christmas break he was concerned that I hadn't signed him up for first grade yet. When I told him that he was still in Kindergarten he was a little disappointed because he realized that all these school years are going to take a lot longer than he thought :) We just love that kid!
For Christmas we spent a fun couple of weeks in Montana with lots of family. We played lots of games, basketball, volleyball, watched movies, ate yummy food and just enjoyed being together. Some of the highlights were....
We got to meet baby Mckayla for the first time and both Dal and B love babies so they loved being around her.
Riding 4-wheelers-the kids loved it despite the cold
On Christmas Eve the kids acted out the Nativity story. Braelyn was an angel and Dal requested to be the 3rd Wise Man (because Dal thought he must have been a younger wise man :)
Santa made a surprise visit to my parents house and that was really fun for the kids. B-Rae was kind of scared of him so didn't want to sit on his lap. He brought us all matching red Dillon, MT t-shirts that were pretty awesome
It was fun to get to hang out with so much family. They are all so fun and I love them so much!
My parents got some good grand-kid time and the kids got some great cousin time
It was fun to get to see my grandparents too. It had been a while since we had seen them.
The kids had a blast running around and being crazy, and riding grandpa who was a good horsey:)
On December 1st Braelyn turned 3. I can't believe my baby is already 3! Luckily I was off from clinic and class that day so we had an awesome day celebrating her birthday. The night before we had put up some streamers and balloons because Braelyn is all about the party atmosphere. When she woke up that morning we told her Happy Birthday. She jumped out of bed and said "Oh I am so excited, I am so excited!" Then when she saw her decorations she got even more excited. We kicked off the day with taking her to the Donut Stop to eat some donuts. They were delicious :) After we picked up Dal from school we had free tickets to go to the movie theater to see Arthur Christmas. Braelyn is not the best about sitting through movies at theaters so we were a little worried but since it was free we decided to go for it. Luckily we had the entire theater to ourselves. So when she started to lose interest and wasn't super quiet anymore and wanted to walk up and down the aisles-it was okay because the entire theater was ours :) It was a fun movie and we enjoyed it.
Braelyn loved trying to blow up balloons
Ready to head out the door to the movies Another part of B-Rae's birthday party was some family Wii time. We played Mario Super Sluggers and a game of bowling. She really got into them and she was a really good pitcher on Mario baseball.
Here is a little video clip of us playing Wii (take note of B's awesome spin pitch:)
Braelyn is really into birthday hats so we made sure they were part of the party (some of those blow things too :)
Dal did a great job helping with the birthday cake
Braelyn had fun opening her presents
One of her presents was a really cool & big puzzle we got at Ross. She loves puzzles and I was very impressed with this one. Ross has some great stuff sometimes!
She also loved her birthday cake and blowing out the candles (She chose pizza for her birthday dinner which was really yummy too)
Braely Rae got a new dress and boots for her birthday so she was excited to try them on, and of course we had to do a little photo shoot too :)
I just love that girl so much. She is so cute and funny. She is so thoughtful and concerned about everyone, especially if anyone gets hurt or is sick. She is also so nurturing and loving with her baby and any baby she sees. Whenever she sees a real baby she says "Oh that baby is so cute!" and then she falls to the ground or tips over being overcome with the cuteness :) She also says some of the funniest things sometimes. Like when she doesn't get what she wants, or if I don't do something the ways she wanted me to she says "Mom, it makes me so frusturated when you don't listen to me." It's so funny the way she says it. One of my favorites is when she tells me, or Jake or Dal that we are her best friends and that she loves us so much. We love you Braelyn and are so grateful that you are part of our family!
We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We didn't go anywhere and it was just our little family and it was so wonderful and relaxing. Jake made us a delicious Thanksgiving feast. We ate. We relaxed. We played games. We had fun as a family. I didn't think about school at all and just enjoyed the break. It was such a nice little vacation.
Over the weekend I had time to reflect on the many blessings that I have in my life and how grateful I am for them. To name just a few...
I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful that we have the His restored gospel and that we are blessed enough to be members of His church.
I am grateful to know the purpose of our lives and what we are ultimately working toward, and that the rest are just details.
I am grateful to have modern revelation, a living prophet and apostles, and the guidance and direction that we receive from them.
I am grateful for temples and the peace and Spirit that can be felt there and that through them we can be eternal families.
I am grateful for an amazing husband who has worked so hard despite a lot of pain to always be there for me and to be the best daddy ever to our two kids.
I am grateful for my two wonderful children. They are so full of life and energy and are such special spirits. I feel blessed to have them.
I am grateful for mine and Jake's extended families. We have so many fun and wonderful family members who we wish we got to see more often.
I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to further my education and the help that I've been given to do well.
I am grateful for the scholarships that I've received to help with tuition and gas reimbursement for my clinical travels.
I am grateful to only have two weeks left for the semester, to get a nice long Christmas break, and then to have only one semester left of Radiation Therapy school.
I am grateful that after a couple of interviews and and some waiting patiently the Huntsman Cancer Hospital has decided to bring me on as a student to become further specialized as a Medical Dosimetrist. (We are so excited!!!)
I am grateful for opportunities to serve in the church. I was just released as the nursery leader (woohoo! :) and called to be 2nd counselor in the Young Womens (which I am really excited about!)
I am grateful to be looking at a cute little Christmas tree with lights with now:) I love Christmas decorations!
I have so many amazing blessings in my life! Tonight Jake and I were reading an article on lds.org about gratitude and I loved some of the quotes so I think I'll share...
“In some quiet way, the expression and feelings of gratitude have a wonderful cleansing or healing nature. Gratitude brings warmth to the giver and the receiver alike,” Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said.
“Gratitude, expressed to our Heavenly Father in prayer for what we have, brings a calming peace,” he said, “a peace which allows us to not canker our souls for what we don’t have. Gratitude brings a peace that helps us overcome the pain of adversity and failure. Gratitude on a daily basis means we express appreciation for what we have now without qualification for what we had in the past or desire in the future.”
Dalyn says and does the cutest and funniest things sometimes so I thought I would make a running list to remember some of those moments...
~We had eaten at a buffet and Dal loved it. He said "If I'm ever really hungry again just take me to that place where you pay for the first food and then get the rest of the food after that for free." That's a good way to look at a buffet :) (10/2012)
~Dal was doing something and being impatient and I said "Dal, you just need to be patient." He said "Mom, being patient is such a waste of my time." I understand how he feels :) (10/2012)
~Jake was having a bad day and was in a lot of pain. Dal said "I'm going to say a prayer for you daddy." Then he said "Dear Heavenly Father, this is important, my daddy doesn't feel good. Can you please help him feel a little better. Please. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen" It was the sweetest, most sincere prayer I have ever heard and it touched my heart. (6/2012)
~Dal's kindergarten teacher's birthday is coming up and I asked him if he wanted to make her a birthday card. He got really excited about it and these are some of the things that he was thinking about writing..."Happy Birthday Mrs. Bryan! You are now older than the old number you were before your birthday. Birthdays are a special celebration. Birthdays are special because you are older and bigger." (9/2011)
~ On our way to church today Dal told us that he asked his friend Sadie from school what church she goes to. She told him that she goes to the Kid Church. Dal told her ..."I go to the church of the Son of God" :) (4/2011)
~Dal has decided that when he grows up he is going to have 4 kids- 3 boys and 1 girl. Their names are going to be: Junior, McQueen, & Robin (as in Batman & Robin) for the boys and Sally for the girl :) (4/2011)
~On our way to church today Dal was talking about his friend Cash and said "Cash says he doesn't like church so he doesn't go. But I want to invite him to come to church with me and help him understand how important it is to go to church. Then I will tell him that he came from heaven and that I came from heaven too." Dal is just the cutest little missionary! (2/2011)
~Dal is so creative and imaginative. He has bigger sized lego blocks and he makes those into any toy or character imaginable and then sets up his room as whatever world or place that fits with the theme of his creations. It's so fun to watch and play with him in his toy world. (9/2010)
~Dal came home from preschool and told us he had a new girlfriend. So we started asking him questions and found out that they hadn't really played together or even talked for that matter he just said "She just looked so beautiful." So I guess because of that he decided that she was his girlfriend :) (9/2010)
~The other night when I was putting Dal to bed he said "Mommy. The Holy Ghost is so cool. I'm going to listen to the Holy Ghost and I am not going to listen to Satan!" I thought that sounded like a great plan. :) (3/2010)
~So Dal came home from preschool and told us that "Conner made a bad choice and squirted my girlfriend." We asked him about his girlfriend and he told us that a girl at preschool told him she wanted to be his girlfriend. We asked him what he said and he told us he said "Ok, but not really." Then we were asking him more and he said "Um, never mind. I don't want to talk about it anymore." On no, barely four years old and it already begins! :) (1-25-10)
~When I take Dal to preschool they always practice writing their names when they get there. Today he wrote his name really fast and crazy like and his teacher said "Well maybe you will be a doctor when you grow up", and Dal said "No, I'm going to be a prophet." That's what he has decided he wants to be when we grows up :) (12-16-09)
~I heard Dal saying his bedtime prayers and part way through he said "Heavenly Father, I love transformers. I know they are expensive so please help us to have more money so that we can buy transformers because they are really fun." (11-20-09)
~The wisdom of a three year old: Dal and I were hitting some of the community trick or treating events and when we got to the last one I told him that after this we were going home. He said "Good. I'm tired. All of this walking around getting candy makes a little kid like me tired." (10-31-09)
~We were reading the scriptures and trying to teach Dal about the second coming, when Jesus would come again. Dal's response: "When he gets here, I'll show him my Batman toy."
~Dal was building a tower with legos and I asked him to do get his shoes on so we could go somewhere. He said "Mom, you're sweet, but here's the thing, I am building a tower of power."
~Dal has a little friend that lives close and comes over to our house often. They play together almost every day. About two days had passed and they hadn't seen each other and then Zach came over and Dal opened the door and excitedly said "You came, you came!! Zach, I was so worried about you!"
~Dal has been on a super hero kick lately, so sometimes when he's at the playground and other kids ask him what his name is he says "My name is Super Duper Super Hero!" It's pretty funny. The other night I also heard him praying that he could be a super hero like Larry Boy. (6/09)
~We were reading out of Dal's picture scriptures and we read about Elizabeth and Zacharias who prayed to be able to have a baby and then she got pregnant with John. Dal asked "Did you pray to have baby sister?" I told him we did and then he said "So I can pray to have lots of baby brothers and lots of baby sisters!" I thought it was funny but thought that it was only a passing thought for him, not that he would really take it to heart:) Then a couple nights later when he was saying his bedtime prayers he said "Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that I can have lots of baby brothers and lots of baby sisters!..." It was pretty cute...but then I thought, uh-oh...hmmm, let's define the meaning of "lots":)
~Out of the blue Dal asked me "Mommy, do you have a puppy in your tummy?" I told him that I didn't and explained that I only carry babies like baby sister in my tummy and that mommy dogs carry baby puppies in their tummmies. I asked him why he asked and he said he asked because he wanted a dog and was wondering if I was going to have one. (He has enjoyed having his baby sister so much and knew that that's where she came from, so I guess he assumed that if he wanted a baby puppy that I would have to have it too. :) (5-13-09)
~In an effort to help Dalyn say his prayers at night I told him that when he prays and thanks Heavenly Father for things he has or got to do that day then it makes Heavenly Father happy. So last night after he said his prayer he jumped up and with both arms in the arm he shouted with glee "Now Heavenly Father is so happy! Heavenly Father is so happy!" I'm sure he was :) 4/12/09
~Dal was in the bath tub and he got out and I asked him what he was doing. He said "I just have to see if I'm so cute." He then pushed the stool up to the mirror so he could see himself, took one look and said "Yep, I'm so cute." Then he got off the stool and got back into the bath tub and continued playing with his toys in the tub. I got a good laugh out of that one. (2-19-09)
~When Dalyn found out that I was taking Braelyn to the Dr for her first check-up Dalyn yelled in a panic-stricken voice "No don't take her back! I want to keep her!" It was pretty cute. I reassured him that we would not be taking her back and that we would get to keep her forever. He was quite relieved. He loves his baby sister.
~Once when Dalyn was holding Braelyn she started rooting around and found his hand and stuck her tongue out. Dal laughed and said "She's trying to lick me!" He then thought that they were playing a game where she was trying to lick him. He just kept laughing and laughing.
~When Dalyn first saw Braelyn he just stared at her and said "She is so small. Her hands are so small. She doesn't have any teeth" He was pretty observant.
~We went to the school playground on Saturday to play and Dal found a jump rope that had been left on the ground and he was trying to swing it and he wanted me to jump. I told him that I couldn't jump very good with baby sister in my tummy. So then he wanted me to climb the little rock wall with him to get to the slide and he said "It's okay mommy, baby sister will hold on tight." It was so funny and so well thought out, and yes I did climb the little wall with him.(11-1-08)
~Dal was busy playing cars with his daddy and they were each in character having the cars talk to each other and I had to tell Jake something so I was talking to him. Dalyn repeatedly kept telling me "Mommy, don't talk to daddy anymore!" (I was distracting Jake and Dalyn wanted his full attention while they were playing.) After telling me to stop and I didn't Dalyn then came and took my hands and said "Mommy you go to sit in time out" and he led me over to the chair and had me sit down. I thought it was really funny so I sat there for a minute to humor him.
~I stubbed my toe on the door and said "Ouch" and Dalyn looked at me really concerned and said "Mommy?" So then I told him that I hurt my toe. He said "Okay. I'll come kiss it better." Then he came over to me and got down and kissed my toe. (It was so cute!) After that he said "Are you okay mommy?" And of course I told him that I was now. Even though my toe still hurt there is something about getting a kiss better that just makes it all okay. Amid his craziness he is such a thoughtful kid.
~When someone is at our house and he doesn't want them to leave he'll go and block the door and say something like "It's too hot out there" "You can't go out there" "The door is locked and you don't have key" "You don't have your shoes"...or something of the sort. He's good at coming up with good reasons for people not to go. He just loves to be around people.
~Along those same lines, Dalyn used to get really creative to keep other kids from taking toys away from him that he was playing with. When a kid would come up to him and try to get his toy he would say "It's hot!" in an effort to get the other kid not to touch it and to back away. It was pretty funny.
~Dalyn and I were playing and then he stopped and got this cute look on his face, rubbed my head and said "Sweetheart, I love you." It was just too cute.
~The other day for some reason Dalyn was sure it was his birthday. He sang himself the birthday song, he found something at the dollar store and told me it was his birthday present, etc. Then when we went to check the mail we got a little blue box with a fake ribbon on it and Dalyn excitedly yelled "My birthday present!" When we got in the house he couldn't wait to open it...It was some free sample tampons from Walmart! He was so excited and yelled "A blue one!" "A green one!" and they became swords, laser shooters, rocket ships and anything else he could think of. He had so much fun with his "birthday presents". It was pretty hilarious.
~Dalyn is always looking out for others. Any time I give him a popsicle or something and he sees his daddy (or whoever else is around) he'll say "Where's daddy's popsicle?" He wants to make sure others get in on the good stuff.
~Speaking of popsicles, sometimes Dalyn gets a little creative in how he can get more than one...I gave him a blue popsicle (his favorite) and he said "Daddy wants a blue one too" so I gave him another blue one to give to daddy and then he walks in the room where his daddy is, looks at his two blue popsicles and then comes back in the kitchen and says "Daddy wants orange popsicle".
~We were sitting in church on Sunday and Dalyn unintentionally burped and then looked around him and said "What's that noise?" It was pretty funny!
Some Braelyn Cute Moments
~Braelyn likes to think that she speaks Spanish. She has learned some Spanish words and is excited to practice them. Sometimes she will come up to us or other people and say something and they have no idea what she is saying. Then she informs them that she is speaking Spanish :) (10/2012)
~Braelyn gives the sweetest hugs and kisses. I love it when she says "I love you mommy (or daddy)! You're my best friend!" (5/2012)
~We were at Wal-mart the other day and Braelyn saw a baby sittting in a shopping and she was so excited to go talk to the baby and turned to me and "Mom! I want one of these at my house!" (3/2012)
~Braelyn absolutely adores babies. Anytime we see a baby she wants to go see it and talk to it. She always says "Awww, a baby!" and "Baby's so cute!" in a cute little voice. She is so sweet with the babies too. She will be such a good mommy some day :) (9/2011)
~Braely Rae is starting to talk a lot and she says some funny things. Sometimes when she does something or asks someone to help her with something she'll look and say "Oh, perfect!" She also loves to play ball and is good at saying "play ball". The other day I was leaving for school and I gave her a hug and kiss and then she said "nuzzle!" and she rubbed her little nose on mine. She also likes me to do her hair and then when we are done doing her hair she'll run to Jake to show him and she says "Daddy, pretty hair!" (4/2011)
~During sacrament meeting Braelyn kept turning to me and holding her finger to her mouth saying "Shhh" and then she's say "Remember Jesus." It was really cute :) (4/2011)
~B-Rae can be so cute and thoughtful. The other day I sneezed and she looked at me, reached up with her little hand to touch my face and then said "Bless you mommy." (2/2011)
~Braelyn loves baby dolls. She has a baby beans doll (which used to be my doll when I was her age) and she carries it around and gives her lots of kisses and tries to give her drinks of water too. (9/2010)
~ Sometimes we think B is a WWF girl in the making. When anyone is laying on the floor (especially her daddy) she loves to go up to him and do a double jump move and then a body slam. She can even pin Dal to the floor with her amazing wrestling moves and we have to go rescue him :) (9/2010)
~Today at church B-rae kept putting her hand up to her ear like she was talking on the phone and she would say "Hello, Hello" and then "Bye-bye, bye-bye" (9/2010)
~Braely loves babies. Every time we see a baby she gets really excited and says "Hi baby! Hi baby! Hi baby!" It's so cute. (9/2010)
~B loves to go outside. If it were up to her she would be outside all day long, either on a walk in the stroller, walking around exploring or going down the slides at the playground by our house. It doesn't matter how cold it is (and Logan is always cold! Well half the year at least) she always wants to go outside. She frequently brings us her shoes and our shoes to take her outside! :) (4/2010)
~B-Rae gives the best hugs. She loves to give hugs. She loves hugging Dal. And she also loves other little kids and sometimes she will try to give a hug to some random little kid she sees in the grocery store. It's pretty cute. She also wanted to give her baby cousin Landon lots of hugs last time she saw him. :) (3/2010)
~Braely Bug tries to say some words really cute...words like orange, shoes, outside, banana, etc. and one that she says really well is "All done". It's funny because whenever we eat dinner she eats her food in her high chair for a little while and then she says "All done" and wants out. Then right when I get her done she runs over to Jake and wants to sit on his lap and have him give her bites of some of his food. She is always sure he's holding out on her and has something better on his plate :)
~B and I have a book that we read together and part of it says "I'll tuck in your blanket and give you a kiss" and its so cute because she knows it says that somewhere in the book so whenever we start reading that book she turns up toward me and sticks out her little lips to give me a kiss--it's the cutest thing!
~B loves her big brother. She loves to chase him around the house, knock down his block creations and then try to help rebuild them, hide under the blanket with him and have us find them and much more. Dal is so cute with her too. He finds fun ways to play with her and he just loves her so much!
~B-Rae loves to eat. Let's face it. She's like her mother and she loves food. One of her favs is cottage cheese. She likes to feed it to herself. It is fun to watch her grab little handfuls and stuff them in her mouth. Cute Cute!
~After a nap or in the morning B loves to grab hold of the side of her crib and rock it back and forth as hard as she can. That girl is amazingly strong and I think she just might break her crib one of these days. (12-3-09)
~Some of Braelyn's Favorite Things: Hold our fingers while she walks around, watch Dalyn jump and dance (it makes her laugh and laugh), crawl up the stairs, eat anything that she can pick up on her tray and feed herself, look at herself in the mirror, be outside, sit in the grass, go on stroller rides, do the sway dance to music...etc.
~B is quite the little crawler. She loves to explore and loves to try to manuever over whatever barricade we put to the stair case. She loves to go up those stairs.
~B Rae is quite the little raspberry spitter. She must love that noise and feeling because she spits and spits and then smiles and smiles. (6-2-09)
~Braely Rae has gotten down the rolling from her back to her tummy but can't figure out how to get back on her back...so when I put her down for a nap a couple minutes later I often hear her crying because she has rolled onto her tummy and feels "stuck" so then I come to the rescue. (5-30-09)
~Braely and a baby about her age were sitting next to each other and they were both squealing, socializing, flapping their arms and laughing. It was so cute and funny! We've already a social butterfly on our hands :) (5-14-09)
~We were at church and I was walking down the hall holding Braelyn. Jake came up behind us and started talking to Braelyn telling her about his day and she just started laughing and laughing as though he had told her something really funny. It was too cute. Baby laughter is one of the best things ever! 4/12/09
~Every morning when I hear Braelyn wake up and I go to get her out of her crib I say "Good morning Princess" and she gets the biggest smile on her face and starts kicking with excitement. She's probably thinking how much she missed me after sleeping the whole night through :)
